What Happened On
Nuclear Attack Scare
February 20, 1971
An "emergency nuclear attack warning" is broadcast on U.S. television and radio when the National Emergency Warning Center accidentally sent out the warning. For the next 40 minutes, regularly scheduled programming was put on hold while listeners waited to hear an announcement from the White House. After the operators realized their mistake, they tried to cancel the alert. However, they were unable to find the correct cancellation code word, "impish", so many stations ignored the cancellation.
John Glenn (left) and entering the Friendship 7
John Glenn (left) and entering the Friendship 7
First American to Orbit the Earth
February 20, 1962
John Glenn in the Friendship 7. Glenn circled the globe three times in 4 hours and 56 minutes, reaching speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour. The successful mission concluded with a splashdown and recovery in the Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles southeast of Bermuda.
1955 T-Bird
Photo Credit: Nminow
1955 T-BirdPhoto Credit: Nminow
Thunderbird
February 20, 1954
Ford unveils their new two-seater "personal luxury" car, the Thunderbird, at the Detroit auto show. Ford built it to compete with Chevrolet's Corvette, however, they emphasized its comfort and drivability more than its sportiness. Ford marketed it as a "personal luxury" car, a niche they created because they felt the market for sports cars was too small.
The 1955 model Thunderbird sold 16,155 units, compared to Corvette's 700 units for that year.
Feeling that a two-seater limited sales, the Thunderbird was redesigned as a four-seater for 1958. Over the next few years, sales of the new four-seat version were almost triple that of the previous two-seat model.
Authorities Destroying Illegal Alcohol
Authorities Destroying Illegal Alcohol
Prohibition
February 20, 1933
The 21st Amendment, repealing prohibition, is passed by the House of Representatives and sent to the states for ratification.
Federal prohibition had been in effect as per the 18th Amendment since 1920 and while it did not prohibit the consumption of alcohol, it did ban the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcoholic beverages.
Square-Bottomed Paper Bag
February 20, 1872
American inventor Luther Childs Crowell receives a patent for the first machine to make square-bottomed paper bags. "My invention relates to the manufacture of square-bottomed bags; and consists in so folding and cementing a strip of paper that when cut into sections of suitable length, one end being closed by one fold, the bottom of the bag or case thus formed when opened or filled will assume a quadrangular shape." U.S. Patent #123,811 and 123,812.
Burr shooting Hamilton
Burr shooting Hamilton
Dueling Outlawed in Washington D.C.
February 20, 1839
Congress bans pistol dueling in Washington D.C. The legislation was prompted after Kentucky Representative William Graves killed Maine Representative Jonathan Cilley in a duel the previous year. Cilley had called New York newspaper editor James Watson Webb's coverage of Congress biased and corrupt. Webb asked his friend and political ally Graves to deliver his duel challenge to Cilley. When Cilley refused to accept the letter, Graves decided that the manner in which Cilley rejected the letter was an insult to his honor, so he then challenged Cilley to a duel. Cilley felt honor bound to accept. Cilley was shot in the femoral artery during the duel and bled to death within minutes.
In 1804, U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr had killed former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
In 1806, future U.S. President Andrew Jackson killed Charles Dickinson in a duel.
In 1842, future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was challenged to a duel, but it was called off at the last minute and the two duelers became friends.
End of the World
February 20, 1524
German mathematician and astronomer, Johannes Stöffler predicted a world-wide flood would occur on this date. He chose this date due to the numerous planetary conjunctions that would occur in the sign of Pisces (the water sign). As the designated day approached, 20,000 Londoners left their homes and headed for higher ground. Count Von Iggleheim had built a three-story ark for the occasion. When it started to rain, riots broke out among those trying to get a seat on his ark. Hundreds were killed and the Count was stoned to death.
Stöffler later recalculated the date to be 1528.
Source www.randi.org.
Iraq War - Welcome to Iraq
February 20, 2003
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on how the U.S. troops would be greeted by the Iraqi people: "There is no question but that they would be welcomed… Go back to Afghanistan, the people were in the streets playing music, cheering, flying kites, and doing all the things that the Taliban and the al-Qaeda would not let them do."
Noah's Ark Hoax
February 20, 1993
CBS broadcasts The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark to an estimated 20,000,000 viewers. It included George Jammal's claim to have seen the ark on Mt. Ararat in Turkey and to have brought back a piece of wood from it. Gerald Larue, a biblical scholar, later admitted to helping Jammal - who had never even been to Mt. Ararat - concoct the story.
Ross Perot
February 20, 1992
Texas billionaire Ross Perot announces on Larry King's talk show that he would run for U.S. President if the people put him on the ballot in all 50 states.
Only U.S. Battleship Not Named for a State
February 20, 1900
The USS Kearsarge (BB-5) is commissioned.
Toothpick
February 20, 1872
American inventors Silas Noble and James P. Cooley receive a patent for the first toothpick manufacturing machine.
Birthdays
Kenneth Olsen
Born February 20, 1926 d. 2011
American businessman. He co-founded the computer giant Digital Equipment Corporation (1957) with his brother Stan Olsen and Harlan Anderson. In 1977, he declared, "There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home."
The Tetons and the Snake River (1942)
The Tetons and the Snake River (1942)
Ansel Adams
Born February 20, 1902 d. 1984
American photographer. Famous for his black and white photographs of the California's Yosemite Valley.
Kurt Cobain
Born February 20, 1967 d. 1994
American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer, songwriter, guitarist, with Nirvana. Music: Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991).
In 1987, Cobain formed Nirvana with Krist Novoselic and Aaron Burckhard and established it as part of the Seattle music scene that later became known as grunge. Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home on April 8, 1994, at the age of 27. Investigators concluded he had died on April 5 from a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head.
Quote: They laugh at me because I'm different; I laugh at them because they're all the same.
Cindy Crawford
Born February 20, 1966
American model, actress. She has appeared on more than 300 magazine covers. TV: MTV's House of Style (host).
Patty Hearst (right) Robbing Bank
Patty Hearst (right) Robbing Bank
Patty Hearst (Patricia Campbell Hearst)
Born February 20, 1954
American newspaper heiress, bank robber. After she was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (1974), she joined them in a bank robbery for which she was convicted. She claimed Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostages bond with their captors, as her defense. U.S. President Jimmy Carter commuted her sentence in 1979 and President Bill Clinton gave her a full pardon in 2001.
Catherine (b1952), Carol (b1953), Charles (b1956), Claudia (b1961), Cecilia (b1966) Cummins
Born February 20, 1952
American birth oddities. These five siblings are all natural born children of Carolyn and Ralph Cummins and were each born February 20th of different years. Source: Guinness Book of World Records
Sandy Duncan
Born February 20, 1946
American actress. Film: $1,000,000 Duck (1971) and The Cat From Outer Space (1977).
Jerome Geils
Born February 20, 1946 d. 2017
American guitarist, founder of J. Geils Band. Music: Must Have Got Lost (1974), Freeze-Frame (1981), and Centerfold (1981, #1).
Barbara Laine Ellis
Born February 20, 1940
American singer, with the high school group The Fleetwoods. Music: Come Softly to Me (1959, #1) and Mr. Blue (1959, #1).
Richard Beymer
Born February 20, 1938
American actor. Film: West Side Story (1961, Tony). TV: Twin Peaks (1990-1991, 2017 Benjamin Horne).
Nancy Wilson
Born February 20, 1937 d. 2018
American Grammy-winning soul, jazz singer. Music: (You Don't Know) How Glad I Am (1964) and her version of the standard Guess Who I Saw Today (1960).
Bobby Unser
Born February 20, 1934 d. 2021
American Hall of Fame auto racer. Three-time Indy 500 winner (1968, 75, 81).
Amanda Blake (Beverly Louise Neill)
Born February 20, 1929 d. 1989
American actress. Amanda Blake is best known for her portrayal of Miss Kitty Russell on TV's Gunsmoke (1955-74). She had a pet lion named Kemo that she would bring onto the Gunsmoke set. She and her husband operated an animal compound at her home, where Kemo lived, and ran an experimental breeding program for cheetahs.
Sidney Poitier
Born February 20, 1927 d. 2022
American Oscar-winning actor. Film: The Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Lilies of the Field (1963, for which he became the first black to win a Best Actor Oscar). He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2009) by U.S. President Barack Obama.
Richard Matheson
Born February 20, 1926 d. 2013
American author. Writings: I Am Legend (1954), which was made into the movies The Last Man on Earth (1964), The Omega Man (1971), I Am Legend (2007), and was the inspiration for Night of the Living Dead (1968). Matheson also wrote The Shrinking Man (1956) which was filmed as The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). Film: Trilogy of Terror (1975). TV: He wrote 16 episodes for The Twilight Zone and the Star Trek episode The Enemy Within (1966).
Robert Altman
Born February 20, 1925 d. 2006
American film director. Known for his use of overlapping dialogue from multiple actors, he is ranked as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in American cinema. Film: M*A*S*H (1970) and Nashville (1975).
Pierre François Boulle
Born February 20, 1912 d. 1994
French author. Boulle was a secret agent with the Free French in Singapore. He was captured and spent two years in forced labor, which he used for the basis of his semi-fictional novel The Bridge over the River Kwai (1952) which was made into a movie in 1957.
He also wrote Planet of the Apes (1963), which was made into the 1968 movie.
Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney
Born February 20, 1899 d. 1992
American businessman, co-founder of Pan American Airways (1927) and co-producer of Gone with the Wind (1939).
Howard Atwood Kelly
Born February 20, 1858 d. 1943
American surgeon, gynecologist. He developed the open cystoscope, used to introduce light into the interior of the body, and was a pioneer in use of radium to treat cancer.
William Prescott
Born February 20, 1726 d. 1795
American soldier. At the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775), he proclaimed, "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."
Deaths
Voice of Donald Duck
Clarence Nash
Died February 20, 1985 b. 1904
American voice actor. Voice of Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie.
Father of Modern Parapsychology
Joseph Banks Rhine
Died February 20, 1980 b. 1895
American parapsychologist. Known as the "Father of Modern Parapsychology", he coined the term "extrasensory perception" (ESP) to describe the ability to acquire information without the use of the known senses. He conducted a series of experiments using the familiar ESP cards, known as Zener cards, picturing wavy lines, square, circle, star, and cross. He also co-edited Parapsychology Today. Some of his subjects in his Zener card experiments showed results greater than expected from random chance and looked very promising. However, after correcting experimental flaws in his test design, the scientific community has not been able to replicate Rhine's results.
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Died February 20, 1980 b. 1884
American socialite. She was the daughter of U.S. President (1901-1909) Theodore Roosevelt. Known for her unconventional lifestyle, she smoked cigarettes in public, rode in cars with men, stayed out late partying, kept a pet snake named Emily Spinach in the White House, was seen placing bets with a bookie, and frequently interrupted oval office meetings to offer political advice. Her father, President Roosevelt, once commented, "I can either run the country or I can attend to Alice, but I cannot possibly do both".
She became known to the American people as "Princess Alice".
Known for her numerous affairs, her only child was the result of an affair with Senator William Borah.
Quote: "If you can't say something good about someone, sit right here by me."
America, Love It Or Leave It
Walter Winchell
Died February 20, 1972 b. 1897
American journalist. He popularized the phrase "America, love it or leave it" (1950s), which he used in defense of Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch hunts. TV: The Untouchables (1959-63, narrator).
Schreck and as vampire Count Orlok in Nosferatu
Schreck and as vampire Count Orlok in Nosferatu
Max Schreck
Died February 20, 1936 b. 1879
German actor. He played the count in the first Dracula movie, Nosferatu (1922).
Peary (left) and Peary Party at North Pole
Peary (left) and Peary Party at North Pole
Robert Edwin Peary
Died February 20, 1920 b. 1856
American Arctic explorer. He is credited with being the first person to reach the North Pole (1909). However, his claim is disputed and Frederick A. Cook claims to have reached the North Pole the previous year, although his claim is also disputed.
Left to right: Jacinta Marto, Lúcia dos Santos, and Francisco Marto
Left to right: Jacinta Marto, Lúcia dos Santos, and Francisco Marto
Jacinta Marto
Died February 20, 1920 b. 1910
Fátima viewer. She was one of the three children who claimed to have seen the Our Lady of Fatima visions of the Virgin Mary near Fátima, Portugal (1917).
She and her brother Francisco Marto, who also claimed to have seen the visions, would both die in the Great Influenza Epidemic several years later. Also witness to the visions was Lúcia dos Santos.
Frederick Douglass
Died February 20, 1895 b. 1817
American orator and journalist. Born into slavery, he escaped to Great Britain where he raised the money to buy his freedom. Abolitionists used him to counter arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens.
Led Attack on Ft. Sumter Starting the Civil War
Pierre G. T. Beauregard
Died February 20, 1893 b. 1818
American Confederate general. He led the attack on Fort Sumter starting the American Civil War (1861). The commander of Fort Sumter, whom he attacked, had been his instructor at West Point. Beauregard became the first Confederate general when he was appointed brigadier general (March 1, 1861).
Alexander M. Haig Jr.
Died February 20, 2010 b. 1924
American general, NATO Supreme Commander (1974-79), and U.S. Secretary of State (1981-82). He once suggested that a nuclear warning shot in Europe might be effective in deterring the Soviet Union.
For his military service he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, and the Purple Heart.
Curt Gowdy
Died February 20, 2006 b. 1919
American Hall of Fame sports announcer, "The Voice of the Redsox." TV: The American Sportsman (host).
Sandra Dee (Alexandra Zuck)
Died February 20, 2005 b. 1942
American teen actress. Film: The Reluctant Debutante (1958) and Gidget (1959).
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro
Hunter S. Thompson
Died February 20, 2005 b. 1937
American journalist, creator of Gonzo journalism. Writings: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972) which was later made into the movie.
Quote: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Quote: "Paranoia is just another word for ignorance."
Gene Siskel
Died February 20, 1999 b. 1946
American movie critic. He and Roger Ebert hosted a series of popular review shows on television (1975-99).
Ferruccio Lamborghini
Died February 20, 1993 b. 1916
Italian sports car manufacturer. He opened his factory in 1963, building such models as the Miura SV and Countach.
Dick York (Richard Allen York)
Died February 20, 1992 b. 1928
American actor. TV: Bewitched (1964-69, the first Darrin). Film: Inherit the Wind (1960, school teacher Bertram Cates). Radio: That Brewster Boy (the third person to play the title role and where he met his wife, who played his older sister).
York suffered a back injury while filming the movie They Came to Cordura (1959), which led to prolonged back pain and an addiction to painkillers that ultimately cost him his roll on Bewitched.
Martin V
Died February 20, 1431 b. 1368
Italian religious leader, 206th Pope (1417-31).